Futurists deal with scenarios. With a single future for any industry or important issue impossible to predict accurately, the best way to forecast what is years or decades ahead is by working with multiple (plausible) scenarios, and going from there — say, to developing solutions to societal problems that accompany respective scenarios (of climate change,…

It’s back! The Carnival of Journalism. Hip, hip, hooray! Huh?! The Carnival is a monthly online gabfest of (mostly) journalists who all agree to answer a common question, usually related to the future of journalism, on their respective blogs. It’s being resurrected by David Cohn, a.k.a. DigiDave, after a break. (There were other breaks before…

A few years ago I learned about some academic researchers in the UK who had developed a next-generation “lie detector.” They had been working on video-analysis algorithms that detected tiny changes in facial movements — such that the human eye typically wouldn’t notice — and could analyze a video of a person talking and identify…

It’s fair to say that the majority of media executives, and practitioners too, have had trouble in the last decade-plus keeping up with the pace of technological advancements and the disruptions they’ve caused for media companies. It’s equally a fair bet that most of the aforementioned people expect digital-technology advances to continue, and for more…

The world of wearable technology is rapidly entering many of our lives. But even at this early stage — as an early adopter myself — I’m noticing a significant problem. Just how many gadgets are the wearable-technology manufacturers expecting us to don on a regular basis? The situation could soon become ridiculous. I’m starting to…

A wonderful humor essay appeared recently in the New Yorker: “A SHORT STORY WRITTEN WITH THOUGHT-TO-TEXT TECHNOLOGY,” by Jesse Eisenberg. It’s a fun read, so check it out, then come back here. Actually, what’s fascinating about this essay is that its premise — a device or system that can transfer your thoughts to text on…

I just bought another Macbook Pro, to replace the one that I have to give back to the University of Colorado Boulder in less than a week, since my gig working there is over. I wonder, will this be the last laptop computer I buy as my primary work machine? The answer is yes. I’m…

Image above is Penguin B drone by UAV Factory; cost: $50,000; record time aloft: 54.5 hours. I’ve been thinking about drones (a.k.a., unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs) within the context of media (and other) uses for some time. I’m hardly alone. There are so many potential uses for small, inexpensive drones that the commercial UAV…

“Wearable computing” devices are upon us. Actually, they’re already on my body on a daily basis. If you met me in person, you’d be hard pressed to tell. There’s my watch, a Pebble that connects via Bluetooth to my iPhone and looks like a normal, nicely designed wristwatch. When I receive a phone call, the…

The Digital News Test Kitchen at CU-Boulder and I are hosting this month’s Carnival of Journalism, a monthly blogfest in which anyone can participate by answering the Question of the Month. I’d been wanting to play host to a Carnival, and got my wish for February, thanks to Carnival overseer David Cohn. Here’s the question:…

I missed the last couple Carnivals of Journalism, but it’s time for me to get back into the groove. This month there is a question each for journalists and for technologists. My question is: If you are a journalist, what would be the best present from programmers and developers that Santa Claus could leave under…